A Closer Look at Google Public DNS

Earlier this month, Google announced that it had become the largest public DNS service in the world, handling an average of more than 70 billion requests a day. From Google's point of view, this was great. As it pointed out in its official blog, a good DNS service helps make the Web faster and more secure. That's true. But is a giant DNS in Google's hands really good for the world?

The DNS or Domain Name System is often described as the "phone book" of the Internet, but that analogy tends to understate its importance. Imagine that you've suddenly landed in the middle of a giant megalopolis without any street names or building addresses or distinguishing characteristics and no working GPS. That would be the Internet without a domain name system.

But while the DNS system is criticial for planetary communications, helping to run it typically hasn't brought anyone power or glory. This led to a certain amount of neglect, which in turn created a business opportunity for companies willing to tackle the job of improving DNS.

Three years ago, I sat down with David Ulevitch, a developer who founded OpenDNS in 2005 to help make the Internet faster and more reliable for individuals and businesses by providing a better domain name service. At the time, OpenDNS had built a small but profitable business providing improved DNS for free to individuals and for a fee to enterprises. It later grew to operate the largest network of public DNS servers, serving millions of users around the world.

Unlike Google, Ulevitch has never struck me as being obsessed with world domination, so I reached out to him this week to ask what he thought of Google's entry, and now colossal presence, in the space.

What are the implications of Google being the largest public DNS service? Is this good for ordinary people who use the Internet?

First, I think it's a clear indication that Google takes DNS seriously. I've always said that Google's purview is limited to everything between the user and the advertisement. DNS fits squarely within those sights and cuts across a number of strategic areas of focus for Google—speed, security, analytics and control. I think efforts to make the Internet faster is good for ordinary people, but I think that there's more to Google's motives then pure benevolence. That's not to say good can't be a byproduct, but rather, there are ancillary benefits that may not be as friendly to the ordinary Internet user.

With DNS, it's possible to control key components of Internet navigation. Google already controls search, they are quickly gaining market share to control the browser, and when you put in DNS, it becomes the trifecta of complete navigational control. The "omnibox" is something Google introduced with Chrome, but I actually introduced it to Google PM Sundar Pichai a number of years before Chrome existed when demoing our vision for OpenDNS to him as he was then the PM for Google Toolbar, and other Google desktop products.

What role has Google played in the DNS ecosystem? Do you see them as a competitor or a partner?

Google has helped raise the importance of DNS above the network engineering community, which has been really good. They've also worked with us to advance the state of the art for DNS performance, something we've really enjoyed working with them to make happen. It's not so much competition as it is choice in the market. If they started defaulting Chrome to use Google DNS, I think that's something we would take issue with, but for now, we like the idea of people using a DNS other than their ISPs, that's a good idea for a lot of reasons.

What are some of those reasons?

I like the idea of separation of services. ISPs provide a pipe. Other vendors provide security. Other vendors provide email. When one party controls all the services, it's a "synergy" for the company, but rarely for the consumer. With DNS in particular, there are performance and security benefits that third party DNS providers offer that ISPs aren't incentivized to do since DNS is a cost-center for them, and a profit-center for us.